Many garlic presses have been proposed. Generally, they have some form of plunger which is forced down a barrel to squeeze and crush or mash the garlic against a perforated plate. In this way, the garlic becomes crushed and small pieces of flesh and the juice are forced through the perforations.
One very effective way in which the plunger can be forced along the barrel is disclosed in United Kingdom Pat. No. 2064947. As described there is a central plunger which is moved down within a surrounding barrel by the engagement of screw threads between the plunger and barrel. To assist crushing of the garlic and the forcing of the crushed garlic through the perforations, a blade may additionally be provided as described in our United Kingdom Pat. No. 2084862 which extends from the plunger into contact with the preforated plate, the blade being rotated relative the plate by the plunger.
Such a device works very well but there are still sometimes problems in extruding the last remnants of the crushed garlic. We have found that one reason for this seems to be because the perforations are provided in a metal plate having a surrounding flange engaging the lip of the barrel. As a result, there is an annular region around the edge in which small pieces of crushed garlic can accumulate and these pieces tend to block the final advance of the plunger.
It is therefore an object of the present invention in one aspect to provide a press for garlic or the like where this problem is avoided.